Trouble Don’t Last Always Read Online Free

the phone book. But New Orleans was as good a place as any to stay until her divorce was final. Myron would never think to search for her there. And look he would. Not because he cared, but because he saw her as a possession, just like the house or his dogs.
    Standing, she held out her trembling hand. “Thank you.”
    “You have my card to keep in touch.” The handshake was brief.
    “I’ll call you when I’m settled.”
    Lilly walked from his office and got inside her car. Fear and uncertainty dogged each step.
    Forty-four dollars and thirty-three cents wasn’t much to reach New Orleans and start a new life, but it was all she had. Worse, finding a job to earn more would be tough. Myron had never wanted her to work after they were married. Initially he’d used the excuse that he wanted her to stay at home to get Shayla off to school and be there when she came home. In reality, he’d used it as a way of controlling Lilly and keeping her dependent on him.
    Lilly had been blinded by his true nature, a nature he hid so well from others that they believed he was just a proud man. What he was, was manipulative and possessive.
    But she hadn’t seen that. She’d only seen that finally she had a family she could love and who would love her in return.
    She had been determined to show her appreciation for Myron’s faith in marrying her, to show the people of Little Elm she was a decent woman. She had succeeded in gaining respectability but failed in her marriage. She’d stayed these last miserable years because she hadn’t wanted Mother Crawford to spend her last days in a nursing home.
    Starting the car, Lilly put it into gear. There was one last stop she had to make.
    After parking on the shoulder, she wove her way through the stone markers to the fresh mound of black dirt. A double granite marker was already in place. Minnie Faye Crawford, beloved wife and mother, would rest forever beside her husband, Effraim.
    Kneeling down, Lilly placed her hand on the withered gladiolus.
    “I’m sorry, Mother Crawford. I tried to make the marriage work, but I couldn’t. I know you understood and tried to help me and Rafe. That terrible fight between Myron and Rafe brought on your stroke. I wish I could have spared you that heartache and pain.” Tears welled in Lilly’s eyes, trickled down her cheeks.
    “I’m going now, but I’ll never forget you. I promise, just like I promise to always love you and never forget you were the first person to love me.”
    Standing, she walked to her car and drove away fighting tears, fighting fear.

Chapter Two
    The car died without warning.
    Over the faded grayish-blue dashboard that had once been an electric, eye-popping blue, Lilly’s brown eyes widened in alarm as a thin spiral of gray smoke curled from beneath the battered hood. Clutching the steering wheel, she wrestled the aged Ford onto the short-cropping of weeds beside the two-lane blacktop on the outskirts of Shreveport, Louisiana.
    Her heart thumping, she watched in growing fear as the smoke blossomed into a thick black cloud. This couldn’t be happening to her. It couldn’t.
    Damp work-worn hands clamped and unclamped around the steering wheel. Why did her life always have more misery than luck? She tried to do right. She was a good person.
    In despair, she slumped back against the seat. She was still a good six-hour drive away from New Orleans. She didn’t have money to fix the car. After paying the lawyer she barely had enough money to buy food and gas. Closing her eyes, she dropped her forehead onto the back of her clutched hands and fought against panic and the useless tears forming behind her lids.
    No matter what, she had to stay strong. She only had herself to depend on. “You can do this, Lilly. You can do this.”
    Opening her eyes, she lifted her head and brushed the heel of her hand against the outer corner of her eyes. Bone-dry. Feeling steadier and a bit more in control of herself, if not the situation, she got